George Bernard Shaw Study Questions, Mrs. Warren's Profession

E212: British Literature since 1760

George Bernard Shaw Study Questions

Al Drake. 520 Hum. T/Th. 7:30-8:30 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com

Mrs. Warren's Profession

Act 1

1. How much does Mr. Praed appear to know about Mrs. Warren's profession? How would you characerize his class and moral sensibilities as opposed to, say, those of Mr. Crofts or the young Frank Gardner?

2. The first act introduces us at length to Vivie, the 22-year-old daughter of Mrs. Kitty Warren. What kind of life has the young woman lived so far? How much does she know about her mother's past and current circumstances, and what is the state of their present relationship?

Act 2

3. Frank's father is the Anglican Reverend Samuel Gardner. In Act 1, he tried to play the role of wise guardian to his son. Why did he fail? And why, in the second act, is he so opposed to his son Frank marrying Vivie?

4. Vivie demands to know about her mother's past, and learns more than she bargained for. How does Kitty Warren explain the way she entered her profession, and what justification does she offer for having done so? How does Vivie react?

Act 3

5. What seems to be Frank's motive in wanting to marry Vivie? Does he love her? Frank and Vivie represent the younger generation in fin-de-siecle Britain. Do you find that they differ from their elders in any meaningful way? Explain.

6. While trying to convince Vivie to marry him, Sir George Crofts tells Vivie much about his relationship to Mrs. Warren. First of all, what is Sir George's argument in favor of his suit for Vivie's hand? Secondly, what exactly is his relationship to Mrs. Warren, and why does this information upset Vivie?

Act 4

7. Vivie has decided to work in the legal profession with Honoria Fraser in Chancery Lane, and scorns her mother's pleas for understanding. Vivie's advancing awareness of her circumstances and of her mother's plight make her a candidate for the role of heroine in Shaw's play. But how does her final confrontation with her mother frustrate this expectation, or at least complicate it?

8. Shaw said that Mrs. Warren is the only thoroughly conventional character in the play. While defending her continuation in the profession of prostitution (she is currently the successful part-owner of brothels on the Continent), what "conventional" commercial and social or moral values does she assert?

9. A general question for the play: Shaw didn't like his plays to be labelled "didactic." He always said that he wasn't preaching morality directly to his audience. But the play we have studied obviously engages with serious social and ethical issues. If it isn't strictly didactic, how do you account for its intellectual and emotional impact as you have experienced it?

Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2. Seventh edition. New York: Norton, 2000.